osugrad21;637783; said:
"Hang on Sloopy"
What is being held?
Why?
What is the purpose?
Who the hell names someone Sloopy??
Please explain.
From the pages of Wikipedia:
Hang on Sloopy
"Hang on Sloopy" is a hit song by the
pop group
The McCoys which was
#1 in America in October 1965 and is the official rock song of the state of
Ohio,
USA. It was written by
Wes Farrell and
Bert Russell and is named for
Dorothy Sloop, a singer born in
Steubenville, Ohio on
September 26,
1913 who used the name "Sloopy" on stage. She died July
1998 in
Pass Christian, Mississippi.
The song became popular in Ohio after the
Ohio State University's
marching band began playing it at football games; it first played it
October 9,
1965 after a band member, John Tatgenhorst, begged the director to try playing it. After finally convincing the director, Tatgenhorst arranged the song and the band played. After the crowd reaction, the band began to play every game and now it is a Saturday tradition to play the song before the start of the fourth quarter of every Buckeye game. Since then, the song has become an unofficial fight song for the university, with it appearing on the band's CDs and as
a free download on its website. In April
1985, a columnist for the
Columbus Citizen-Journal, Joe Dirck, saw a wire service story about a proposal to designate "
Louie, Louie" the state rock song of
Washington and wrote a column about it. This goaded the 116th
Ohio General Assembly into action and it designated "Hang on Sloopy" the state rock song by House Concurrent Resolution 16 on
November 20,
1985. The General Assembly did not enact the measure into law?unlike "
Beautiful Ohio" when it was made the state song?or even take it seriously, e.g., certain clauses read,
"WHEREAS,
"Hang On Sloopy" is of particular relevance to members of the Baby Boom Generation, who were once dismissed as a bunch of long-haired, crazy kids, but who now are old enough and vote in sufficient numbers to be taken quite seriously" and
"WHEREAS, Adoption of this resolution will not take too long, cost the state anything, or affect the quality of life in this state to any appreciable degree, and if we in the legislature just go ahead and pass the darn thing, we can get on with more important stuff". Ohio is the only state to have an official state rock song.
The song was originally titled "My Girl Sloopy" and was first recorded by
The Vibrations in 1964 on Atlantic Records (45-2222), and has also been recorded by Arseno Rodriguez (Bang 1966),
The Supremes (Motown 1966), The Kingsmen (WAND 1966), Little Caesar and the Consuls, and
The Yardbirds. A 1973 cover version by
Ramsey Lewis won the
Grammy Award for Best R&B Instrumental Performance in 1974. In
2000,
Aaron Carter recorded his version, included as a bonus track on his second album,
Aaron's Party (Come Get It). A
punk rock cover was recorded by the German band
Die Toten Hosen. The basic riff of the song became a staple of
garage bands during the 1960s, being used on such songs as
The Weeds' "
It's Your Time" and
Kit and the Outlaws' "
Don't Tread on Me".
